نشریه رشد و یادگیری حرکتی - ورزشی
پیاپی 48 (تابستان 1401)

The present study aimed to determine the effect of imagining the play strategies in comparison with imagining the motor skills on performance during a sports competition course.

Participants were 30 (19 men, 11 women) karatekas who were evaluated as upper than moderate in terms of performance level. In the beginning, participants' ability and past experiments in motor imagery were assessed. Then, they took part in a quasi-experimental design of one of three strategic imagery, movement imagery, or control groups. Each person immediately after combatting with an opponent performed the required action depending on the group and finally competed against the same previous opponent, again.

The results showed that karatekas had excellent imagery ability, especially in preserving the temporal characteristics of the movement, and at the past competitions, specifically before their matches, they had used both cognitive-general and cognitive-specific imagery. Also, the nonparametric analysis demonstrated that in the quasi-experimental design, the strategic imagery group gained a higher point difference during the post-test, however, the movement imagery or control group did not differ significantly.

The research findings revealed that strategic imagery has more advantages compared to skill imagery, suggesting that strategies of play can be used between the matches as an effective factor in sports success.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is common in the general and sports population. The prime objective of the current study was to compare the impact of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on the visual sustained attention of ADHD student-athletes.

In this study, among the 79 children diagnosed with ADHD, 45 students were randomly selected and divided into three 15-person Sham, control, and experimental groups. All subjects in the Sham and experimental groups received ten sessions of two different types of anodal and sham stimulations over the F3 area and cathode excitation over the Supraorbital (SO) area with 1 mA current for 15 minutes. After ten sessions, each group was re-examined. After 40 days, a follow-up test was performed according to the post-test using the Continuous Performance Test, Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance, and Paired Sample t-test was used to test statistical hypotheses (p≤0.05).

The results revealed that applying tDCS is effective in improving the visual sustained attention of ADHD student-athletes.

The findings of the study indicated that the protocol of applying 1 mA tDCS can improve the visual sustained attention of ADHD student-athletes.

Colon cancer or colorectal cancer is the growth of cancerous masses in the colon. According to research evidence, the use of antioxidants and regular exercise are the best ways to prevent and treat many diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effect of eight weeks of intermittent exercise and Quercetin consumption on the brain-derived neurogenic factor (BDNF) and cyclic-adenosine monophosphate responsive element-binding protein (CREB) in the brain hippocampus of rats with colon cancer which has many influences on cognitive functions.

The subjects of this study included 50 male Wistar rats (weight: 250±30 grams, age: 12 weeks) which were homogenized by weight and were randomly divided into five Healthy Control, Cancer Control, Cancer + Quercetin supplement, Cancer + Intermittent exercise, Cancer + Quercetin supplement + Intermittent exercise groups (10 rats in each group). BDNF and CREB measurements were performed in the rats’ hippocampus according to the ELISA standards and method. SPSS software was used for data analysis.

The results showed that eight weeks of intermittent exercises had a significant effect on the mean score of BDNF (p = 0.047) and CREB (p = 0.032) in rats’ hippocampus with colon cancer. Eight weeks of Quercetin supplementation had no significant effect on the mean BDNF score (p = 0.792) and the mean CREB score (p = 0.363) in rats’ hippocampus with colon cancer

In general, the findings showed that intermittent exercise and Quercetin supplementation improve BDNF and CREB in the hippocampus of rats with colon cancer.

Having Control over performance is one of the most important factors for success in the shooting. Research had shown that the more information a person has about the function of their body, the better control they will have over it. This study aimed to determine the effect of heart rate biofeedback along with relaxation training on the performance and gaze behavior of shooters.

16 semi-skilled shooters with an average age of 18 to 40 years were selected using the available sampling method. Participants were homogeneously assigned to the training (heart rate biofeedback with abdominal relaxation training) and the control groups. Before and after the practice interventions, all participants performed 20 shots from a 10 meters distance, while shooting accuracy scores were measured by Scat software and their gaze behavior were measured by an eye tracking device. Then, participants of the experimental group performed 30 minutes of heart rate biofeedback and abdominal relaxation intervention for four weeks, and three sessions per week.

The results of two-way ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference in the shooting accuracy score of players’ performance, but there was no significant difference in the gaze behavior of shooters between intervention and control groups in the post-test compared to the pre-test.

Overall, biofeedback with relaxation training was able to improve the performance of semi-skilled shooters. However, there was no significant difference in the gaze behavior of shooters due to the improvement of the indicators of this variable.

Despite the importance of refereeing judgments and the sensitivity of referees' role in holding sports competitions and the impact of referees' decisions on the outcome of the game, little research has been done on various aspects of the referees' profession and occupation. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the self-efficacy scale in referees.

The present research, was a descriptive-correlational study. For this purpose, 228 referees of team and individual sports completed the Persian version of the self-efficacy scale in referees. First, using the open-translation method, the accuracy of the Persian version of the questionnaire was confirmed, and then to determine the construct validity of the questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis based on structural equation modeling was used, and to determine internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. Also, for the time reliability of the questions, intra-class correlation with the test-retest method was used.

The results showed that the goodness of fit index and the comparative fit index are higher than (0.90). Time reliability (0.76) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for self-efficacy and its dimensions above 0.7 (acceptable index value) were obtained.

Based on the results, the Persian version of the self-efficacy scale in referees has structural validity and internal and temporal reliability desirable and acceptable for referees of team and individual sports and therefore can be used as a valid and reliable tool to assess the self-efficacy of Iranian referees.

Task and environment constraints are very important in cognitive, perceptual, decision-making, and tactical behaviors. Task constraints are more specific than environmental constraints in performance context, therefore, the present research intended to examine the effect of manipulation of task constraints on functional indicators and the anxiety related to the fear of falling in the elderly.

For this purpose, 45 elderly women (in the age range of 60 to 66 years) were randomly divided into three groups of manipulation of task constraints, without manipulation of task constraints, and control group. Then, the experimental groups performed exercises with manipulation of task constraints and exercises without manipulation of task constraints for eight weeks and three sessions per week for 45 minutes. The control group also continued their normal activities during the research period.

In this research, TUG and BESS tests were used to evaluate performance indicators, and Hamilton's anxiety evaluation scale was used to evaluate the anxiety index. The results of the analysis of covariance by removing the effect of the pre-test showed that in terms of performance and anxiety the group with the manipulation of the task constraints obtained significantly better results (P=0.001) than the group without manipulation and control group.

The results of this research supported the use of various manipulations of task constraints as a kind of teaching strategy for the elderly. It also confirms the effect of exercises by manipulating the task constraints, which improves balance and reduces the fear of falling in the elderly. By improving this ability, the risk of falling in this social class is reduced.

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in the evolution of physical education teaching from a linear to a non-linear approach. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of traditional games with a hybrid of games for understanding and game sense teaching approaches on students' motor proficiency.

This research was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design conducted in a field-based study. Fifty-five girl students (10-11years) were randomly divided into four groups: teaching game for understanding, game sense, hybrid of teaching game for understanding and game sense, and traditional group. Subjects practiced one-hour session three days a week according to their group's educational approach for 12 weeks. The Bruininks-Oseretsky test was used to assess children's motor proficiency.

The results of Mixed ANOVA showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test of the first three groups. So, it can be stated that for gross motor skills, the Hybrid group got the highest score with 79% of variance explained, and for fine motor skills and total motor proficiency, the teaching game for understanding got the highest scores with 84% and 85% of the variance explained, respectively. Traditional education did not have a significant effect on the investigated variables.

It can be concluded that using the hybrid approach improves children's motor proficiency. The present study shows that teaching games for understanding and game sense models in the form of traditional games are a proper training method to improve motor proficiency in students. It seems that these approaches can be transferred to other educational levels

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a protein that is highly expressed in the structures of the central nervous system and affects synaptic plasticity and the acquisition of motor and cognitive skills. This is while val66met polymorphism disrupts the amount and expression of BDNF. So, in the present study, the researchers aimed to investigate the effect of polymorphism on the learning of a motor sequence task.

One hundred students from Kashan University (mean age 21.60 ± 2.60) participated in the study. After extraction of Genomic DNA, implementation of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by forwarding primer 5-ACTCTGGAGAGCGTGAAT-3 and reverse primer 5-ATACTGTCACACACGCTG-3, analyzing PCR by 1.5 percent Electrophoresis Gel, and eventually, DNA sequencing by Sequencing Analyzer, 46 participants were identified without the polymorphism and 54 participants were identified met-carriers (affected by the polymorphism). Then, retention, visual-spatial transfer, and motor transfer of the motor sequence task were tested by the Dynamic Arm Movement Task.

Results showed people without the polymorphism progressed faster than met-carriers and also performed the task better on the retention test (P=0/001). They were also better than met-carriers in the motor transfer test (P=0/001), but there was no significant difference between the two groups in the visual-spatial transfer test (P=0/176).

It seems that met-carriers, in any way, go through the early stages of motor learning, but due to possible problems caused by the polymorphism, they are weak in completing the learning process.